Morelia maul Galaxy in Mexico
With Donovan Ricketts in goal - the first choice Galaxy keeper sat out this one and was replaced by Josh Saunders - the Galaxy would arguably have won this game.
In fact the Galaxy came within 10 minutes of a famous away win at altitude in Mexico, but Saunders failed to hold shots that led to both goals in the last 10 minutes in Morelia's come from behind victory.
You could quibble that Morelia's first shouldn't have counted because it appeared the whole of the ball failed to cross the whole of the goal line, but really the Mexicans deserved the equalizer after relentlessly attacking a bending but not breaking Galaxy back line for much of the game.
The Galaxy had an Omar Gonzalez goal disallowed for offside at the stroke of regulation time and played a controlled, well-managed game that frustrated the home side for most of the 90 minutes.
Still, the Galaxy will rue how closely they came to winning and Robbie Keane especially will regret that his brilliantly insouciant effort - he ran around a defender before his deadly finish - didn't count for something because it was worthy of a game-winner.
Saunders actually started the move with a superbly distributed ball to Landon Donovan whose pinpoint pass found Keane and the Irishman showed exactly why he had been brought to MLS with an impudent finish few other strikers in the league could match.
The Galaxy missed regular midfield starters David Beckham and Juninho, but still came within a whisker of stealing the triumph.
More later.
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About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
Nick,
Seriously what game were you watching?
Good game. Bad result. Poor officiating.
The first Morelia goal was really hard to determine if it crossed the line or not. And it really sucks that Saunders was influenced by an offside Morelia player to make a hard dive on the ball. Maybe an offsides call on that play??
Galaxy got robbed of that second goal by Keane (not Gonzalez). He was not offsides.
On the first Morelia goal, looked to me that the ball crossed the line under Saunders when the Morelia player collided with him and pushed him over the line. Dunno if that's a legal way to score a goal, but there it is.
Dunno about the off-sides call. For me, the goal that got away was Gonzalez's brilliant header down that bounced over the bar in the first half. The Keane goal was technically gorgeous, especially in the way he stretched out his strides approaching the ball so he would be able to strike it well.
I thought Saunders had a great game... except for the two goals. He made some great saves early in the game, so its not clear to me the result would have been any different with Rickets. In fact the commentators were nominating him for man of the match before he let in the goals.
The disallowed goal (Galaxy) and the allowed goal (Morelia) at the end of regulation looked pretty similar to me. From a fairness standpoint they should have both been allowed or both disallowed. Oh... wait... fairness got nothing to do with it.
A smarter move by Arena would have earned LA a point or three last night. With the team leading but laboring under continued pressure, he brings in the lethargic and dim-witted Barrett up front. Hell of a way to protect the lead near the end of the game when your midfield is being run into the ground at high altitude. Barrett then proceeds to be beaten easily by Salah for the losing goal. NOT VERY SMART.